Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail will be eligible for a free upload on Amazon Kindle for Monday and Tuesday, January 21, 22, 2013. This popular trail narrative tells the story of 6’11” Bill Walker’s (Skywalker) 2005 thru-hike of the 2,175 mile Appalachian Trail (AT). Walker had developed a virtual obsession with thru-hiking the AT, despite never having spent a single night outdoors. What followed was a...

The popular Appalachian Trail narrative, Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail, by Bill Walker, will be available for a free download on Amazon Kindle on Monday and Tuesday, January 21-22. This narrative of Bill Walker’s 2005 thru-hike has sold steadily since being published four years ago. Walker had developed a virtual obsession that he was going to thru-hike the 2,175 mile Appalachian Trail in one hiking season. This...

Truth be known, asking me for advice on thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail is about like asking the captain of the Titanic for advice on navigation. I struggled every step of the way in my 2005 thru-hike of this great national scenic trail. Of the people who made it all the way, I was one of the worst. In fact, there were many hikers who were much better and stronger than me who did not complete the hike. So while I am much more fluent in the...

I recently received a very negative one-star review on Amazon for my narrative, Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail. The reviewer mentioned that I had written the wrong name for the outfitter at Neel’s Gap, and thus my facts could not be trusted. I replied to the reviewer that I had used the wrong name on purpose. I had a traditional publisher, Indigo Publishing, that insisted that I use a pseudonym because I had...

“Nobody in particular looked like a murderer or rapist, but nobody in particular didn’t look like one either.” That line is a sample quote from Cheryl Strayed’s powerful Pacific Crest Trail narrative, ‘Wild’. You’ve got to hand it to her. She meets the Pat Conroy test. “I want it all,” Conroy has written about what she is looking for in the books he reads. “That’s all I ask for an...

Like most hikers and authors, I love doing presentations to groups. Heck, you spend almost six months thru-hiking, around the most diverse cast of characters imaginable, passing through almost every type of weather possible, feeling half-starved, dehydrated, scared to death (if you’re me!), and bone-tired. And then if you decide to write about it–as I’m wont to do–you spend approximately the next year obsessing over...